Jerry Crawford

Jerry Crawford, National League umpire, was working in the minors and made a call that Jim Bunning didn't like. This was 20 years ago. A one-time star big-league pitcher (224 victories), Bunning was managing the Toledo club in the Phillies' farm system. Bunning challenged Crawford-jaw to jaw, chin to chin for two to three minutes. Having expended his ample vocabulary, Bunning shot the last arrow in his quiver: "You wouldn't make a pimple on your father's. . . .!" I...

Former major-league umpire Eric Gregg, who struggled with weight problems that saw him reach almost 400 pounds, died Monday night, a day after a massive stroke. He was 55. Gregg had complained to family members Sunday morning at his home in Ardmore, Pa., that he couldn't feel anything on his left side. He was hospitalized and died at 6:45 p.m. Monday. "He was my friend, and I'll miss him," umpire Jerry Crawford, in tears, said before working the Marlins-Giants game in San Francisco.

Former major-league umpire Eric Gregg, who struggled with weight problems that saw him reach almost 400 pounds, died Monday night, a day after a massive stroke. He was 55. Gregg had complained to family members Sunday morning at his home in Ardmore, Pa., that he couldn't feel anything on his left side. He was hospitalized and died at 6:45 p.m. Monday. "He was my friend, and I'll miss him," umpire Jerry Crawford, in tears, said before working the Marlins-Giants game in San Francisco.

Even before White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko stepped on first base for the final out of Sunday night's 6-3 pennant-clinching victory, catcher A.J. Pierzynski raised his hands as he stood at home plate triumphantly. Then Pierzynski grabbed his helmet, as if to get a grip on a moment he and a generation of South Siders will never forget. An instant later, Pierzynski's Sox teammates started jumping and hugging and forming a human circle of joy. And there was Pierzynski, whom Chicago has embraced like...

Even before White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko stepped on first base for the final out of Sunday night's 6-3 pennant-clinching victory, catcher A.J. Pierzynski raised his hands as he stood at home plate triumphantly. Then Pierzynski grabbed his helmet, as if to get a grip on a moment he and a generation of South Siders will never forget. An instant later, Pierzynski's Sox teammates started jumping and hugging and forming a human circle of joy. And there was Pierzynski, whom Chicago has embraced like...

The long-awaited "summit" between the players and the umpires will be Tuesday in Palm Beach, Fla. Acting Commissioner Bud Selig will preside, and he insisted Monday: "A dialogue is long overdue. There is a lot of tension between the players and the umpires." Jerry Crawford of the National League, president of the umpires union, disagrees. "The issue isn't the umpires and the ballplayers," Crawford said. "The argument is between the league presidents and the ballplayers." ...

Richie Phillips, the Philadelphia lawyer who represents the Major League Umpires Association, Tuesday filed an unfair labor practices charge against the American and National leagues. Phillips said league officials are planning to lock out the umpires, beginning Opening Day, until a contract agreement is reached, and replace them from a pool of 200 amateurs. "We`re very, very far apart," Phillips said. "There is hope, assuming they want to get serious and work out a deal. But if they`re intent on...

Now that the big-league players are returning everything should be fine and dandy. But, alas, this is an imperfect world and another knotty problem remains. The umpires, in their quadrennial attempt for more bread, have been locked out and so the league presidents have begun recruiting replacements. Nothing new there. Subs have been used before. But this time there could be a new twist. Said Richie Phillips, the Philadelphia lawyer who represents the umpires: "They're...

The long-awaited "summit" between the players and the umpires will be Tuesday in Palm Beach, Fla. Acting Commissioner Bud Selig will preside, and he insisted Monday: "A dialogue is long overdue. There is a lot of tension between the players and the umpires." Jerry Crawford of the National League, president of the umpires union, disagrees. "The issue isn't the umpires and the ballplayers," Crawford said. "The argument is between the league presidents and the ballplayers." ...

Jerry Crawford, National League umpire, was working in the minors and made a call that Jim Bunning didn't like. This was 20 years ago. A one-time star big-league pitcher (224 victories), Bunning was managing the Toledo club in the Phillies' farm system. Bunning challenged Crawford-jaw to jaw, chin to chin for two to three minutes. Having expended his ample vocabulary, Bunning shot the last arrow in his quiver: "You wouldn't make a pimple on your father's. . . .!" I...

Now that the big-league players are returning everything should be fine and dandy. But, alas, this is an imperfect world and another knotty problem remains. The umpires, in their quadrennial attempt for more bread, have been locked out and so the league presidents have begun recruiting replacements. Nothing new there. Subs have been used before. But this time there could be a new twist. Said Richie Phillips, the Philadelphia lawyer who represents the umpires: "They're...

Richie Phillips, the Philadelphia lawyer who represents the Major League Umpires Association, Tuesday filed an unfair labor practices charge against the American and National leagues. Phillips said league officials are planning to lock out the umpires, beginning Opening Day, until a contract agreement is reached, and replace them from a pool of 200 amateurs. "We`re very, very far apart," Phillips said. "There is hope, assuming they want to get serious and work out a deal. But if they`re intent on...

Andy Van Slyke had words of praise for Cincinnati's Paul O`Neill during the Pirates` brief workout here Saturday. Players from rival clubs, more often than not, have a healthy respect for each other, so Van Slyke's laudatory comments about O`Neill were not unusual. What was surprising is Van Slyke also tossed a bouquet at veteran umpire Jerry Crawford, who worked third base in Game 2 of the National League playoffs. After right-fielder O`Neill threw out Van Slyke at third, Van Slyke said the...

Andy Van Slyke had words of praise for Cincinnati's Paul O`Neill during the Pirates` brief workout here Saturday. Players from rival clubs, more often than not, have a healthy respect for each other, so Van Slyke's laudatory comments about O`Neill were not unusual. What was surprising is Van Slyke also tossed a bouquet at veteran umpire Jerry Crawford, who worked third base in Game 2 of the National League playoffs. After right-fielder O`Neill threw out Van Slyke at third, Van Slyke said the...

Approximately 400 people attend umpires` school each year. On an annual average, one graduate makes it to the big leagues. Among the hundreds of professional umpires, there have been two father-son combinations, Ed and Paul Runge, and Shag and Jerry Crawford. In my fanciful manner, I have envisioned Viola Runge and Vivian Crawford as the Abigail Adams of major league baseball. Just as Abigail was both wife and mother of a United States president, Viola and Vivian are the only women whose...

Approximately 400 people attend umpires` school each year. On an annual average, one graduate makes it to the big leagues. Among the hundreds of professional umpires, there have been two father-son combinations, Ed and Paul Runge, and Shag and Jerry Crawford. In my fanciful manner, I have envisioned Viola Runge and Vivian Crawford as the Abigail Adams of major league baseball. Just as Abigail was both wife and mother of a United States president, Viola and Vivian are the only women whose...

A Branson developer hopes to build a Christian-themed residential community with televangelist Jim Bakker's new broadcast studio as the centerpiece. Jerry Crawford and his wife, Dee, have purchased 590 acres just north of Blue Eye, where a short-lived theme park called Camelot was built in 1994. Blue Eye, a city of about 130 is located along the Missouri-Arkansas state line, about 30 miles south of Branson, where Bakker currently tapes his television show. The proposed development...

Tolerance in baseball is leading to "total anarchy," umpires Don Denkinger and Jerry Crawford said Monday. Arguing in baseball is as American as hot dogs and the seventh-inning stretch. Few sports, granted, allow such visible, semi-childish questioning of authority--but anarchy? Anarchy is 18th Century France and 20th Century prison riots. It's not a baseball manager steamed over a bang-bang call at first base. At a time when baseball is trying to mend its labor wounds and lure the masses back to its...